t ages of its existence, that "the people of
Arabia, a race of strong passions and sanguinary temper, inured to
habits of pillage and murder, found in the law of their native prophet
not a license, but a command, to desolate the world," is untenable.
There was neither a command nor a license to desolate the world, nor was
any person or tribe converted to Islam with that object in view. All the
teachings of the Koran and the history of the early spread of Islam
falsify such an idea.

[Footnote 127: Mohammed, Buddha and Christ, by Marcus Dods, D.D., page
83.]

[Footnote 128: Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History, Book II, Chap. III,
page 73.]

[Footnote 129: Hallam's Middle Ages, Vol. II, pp. 118-9.]

[Sidenote: Mohammad's unwavering belief in his own mission and his
success show him to be a true prophet.]

34. I will pause here for a while, and ask the indulgence of the reader
to reflect upon the circumstances of the persecutions, insults and
injuries, expulsion and attack suffered by Mohammad and his early
followers,[130] and his unwavering adherence to preach against the
gross idolatry and immorality of his people, which all show his sincere
belief in his own mission, and his possession of an irresistible inward
impulse to publish the Divine Truth of his Revelations regarding the
unity in the Godhead and other moral reforms. His preachings of
monotheism, and his enjoining righteousness, and forbidding evil deeds,
were not attended to for many years with material success. In proportion
as he preached against the gross idolatry and superstition of his
people, he was subjected to ridicule and scorn, and finally to an
inveterate persecution which ruined his and his follower's fortune. But
he unflinchingly kept his path; no threats and no injuries hindered him
from still preaching to the ungodly people a purer and higher theology
and better morality than had ever been set before them. He claimed no
temporal power, no spiritual domination; he asked but for simple
toleration, for free permission to win men by persuasion into the way of
truth. He declared he was sent neither to compel conviction by
miracles, nor to constrain outward profession by the sword.[131] Does
this leave any doubt of the strong conviction in his mind, as well as in
the truth of his claim, to be a man sent by God to preach the Divine
Perfection, and to teach mankind the ways of righteousness? He honestly
and sincerely conveyed the message which he had